The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1887-06-16
BRUTAL
OF Mrs Nancy Beall.
Her Head Almost Severed with
an Ak.
Her 10 Year Old Son tho only
Witness 20 the Awful Scene.



He Tells . C0nnfcling Story.
Our community was again startled on Mon
day evening last by q report that . brutal
and horrible murder had been committed
about 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the farm
house of William T. Beall, 81 miles south Of
Eaton, and n mile east of the Eaton and HAM
ilton pike. As soon as possible we reached
the house of the terrible affair, which consists
of a parlor, bed room, sitting room and out
kitchen below, and an upstairs, all apparently
neatly and cleanly arranged. We entered in
the rear of the dwelling and as we reached
the parlor q horrible and sickening sight pre-
scented itself to view. Lying on the floor,
face downward, was the wife of Mr.. Beall,, in
a pool of blood from three bullet wounds in
her head and . cut on the back of her neck,
that had almost severed her head from her
body, done by an az that was lying by her
side. Two revolvers crossing one another,
also laid close by her side, one Of them adou-
Bile self-acting and the other . small % cali
Der of an old pattern. The large one, as we
learned, belonged to q hired hand, the other
the property of Mr.. Beal. All the chambers
in the large one were empty and one in the
small one.
The family of Mr.. Beall consisted Of wife,
son aged II years, and daughter Of 16 years.
After dinner Mr.. B. and daughter came to
Eaton, leaving his wife, son and colored hired
hand at home. The boy on being questioned
said that he went to work in the field with the
hired hand, and that about 8 o'clock he be-
came tired, returned to the house and laid
down in the parlor and fell asleep, leaving his
mother in the adjoining bed room cutting car
pet rags-that in about an hour he was awak-
ened by . splash Of blood in his face-after-
wards said the report Of the pistol shots
aroused him-that he saw his mother fall and
q map raise the az to strike her, when he
jumped up and ran out of the house to call
the hired hand, who was at work in . field
south Of the house. He claimed that he saw
three heavy set men in the room when he
started out, and that they were dressedin dark
clothes. He could not tell which direction
they went, although they necessarily were
compelled to leave the premises the same way
he had gone out to call the hired hand. He
said he stopped at . branch and washed the
blood from his hands and face on his way
to inform the hired hand Of what had oc-
CURED. His reason for doing so was be-
cause the flies bothered him. Blood was dis
covered ON his pants and boots, and when
Questioned IS to how It came there, claimed
that his mother fell close by him while asleep
on the door on = pillow. No blood could be
found on any Of the pillows about the house.
There was only slight evidence that . struggle
had taken place in the bed room where Mrs.
B. was engaged, and where she no doubt was
FIRST assaulted. The boy further stated that
the large revolver before used in the affair
was up stairs in the hired hands coat pocket,
and that the mall one was kept in the bed
room down stairs in q small satchel-the az
he had claimed to have hidden in . tool house
the afternoon previous, where il could easily
be found BY any person. He rehearsed all his
story Of the affair in . calm and cool manner
the least apparent nervousness or
excitement. he stated to some parties later
in the night, that he and his mother had .
she said about him and made it all right be-
tween them.
There was evidently some wild shooting in
the rooms where the murder occurred. Two
balls were found buried in the door frame be-
tween the bed room and the parlor where lay
the corpse, and one in the window in the bed
room, and showed cotelusively that they had
been fred out Of the pistol by a small sized
person or while in a reclining position. The
-hnla oHnsr ~ nraCauk v~sksu~ ono-oa - H.
shrouded in q deep mystery. How the Ak hid
den away by the boy, ard one revolver up
stairs in the coat pocket of the hired hand and
the other one in a small satchel down stairs,
could have been found by strangers is enough
to create doubts in any reasonable mind about
the crime being committed by persons not ia
miliar with the premises. And it is barely
possible that three strangers, in broad noon
day, in as thickly a settled neighborhood as
that surrounding the Beall farm, could have
gone into the house and perpetrsted such a
6endish act and pass out without being notice
ed by n~eighbors or some one passing along
the road. The stoicsl appearance of the boy
in regard to the affair, creates grave suspic-
ions in the minds of many persons as to the
guilty parties of the crime.
The shocking affair created the most intense
excitement for miles around the country, and
. perfect stream of carriages, buggies and
wagons loaded with horror-stricken men, wo-
men and children focked to the premises to
look upon the frightful and bloody affair,
which for fendish atrocity pales the Christ
mar murder that occurred near here but q
short six months ago.
Mrs. Beall was . medium sized woman, aged
agout SO years and quite muscular. She was
. daughter Of Littlejohn Gard, who was well
known in this community. She has a maiden
sister, . resident of Eaton. She was buried
at 2 O'Clock p. m. on Wednesday.
The Coroner commenced his inquest on
Tuesday at l O'Clock, in the large barn on the
premises where the crime was committed
Several hundred persons gathered in, eager to
hear the testimony. Three witnesses only
were ex~amined-the father, son and Pace, the
colored farm hand, when the court adjourned
to meet in Camden on Wednesday morning at
. o'clock. The examination of the boy was
long and tedious, and the manner in which he
told what he knew about the horrible crime,
was certainly remarkable for one of his age,
under the circumstances. In several impor-
tant points in his evidence before the Coroner,
hn charOed his atatemapka mado kha avon;ro